Medical Marijuana Proposal Falls Short On Signatures To Get On Ballot

A group pushing for legalizing medical marijuana in Arkansas says it won't have enough signatures to put its proposal before voters this fall.

Arkansans for Compassionate Care said Monday it wouldn't turn in signatures to place its proposed initiated act on the November ballot.

Monday is the deadline for ballot measure campaigns to submit petitions.

Melissa Fults, the group's campaign director, said it had collected roughly between 51,000 and 52,000 signatures, but a few thousand had to be thrown out because they weren't valid. They needed at least 62,507 signatures from registered voters.

The proposal would have allowed patients with qualifying medical conditions to purchase marijuana from nonprofit dispensaries. Fults said the group would try to get the measure on the ballot in 2016.